Part 1

Transcriber’s Notes

Texts printed in italics in the original book have been transcribed between underscores, as in _text_. Small capitals have been transcribed as ALL CAPITALS.

More Transcriber’s Notes may be found at the end of this text.

THE

DIFFERENT MODES

OF

_CULTIVATING_

THE

PINE-APPLE,

FROM

ITS FIRST INTRODUCTION INTO EUROPE

TO THE

LATE IMPROVEMENTS OF T. A. KNIGHT, ESQ.

BY A MEMBER OF THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.

WITH

Twenty-four Engravings on Wood,

EXHIBITING THE BEST PLANS OF PINE-STOVES AND PITS.

_LONDON:_

PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, PATERNOSTER-ROW.

1822.

LONDON: Printed by A. & R. Spottiswoode, New-Street-Square.

INTRODUCTION.

A considerable interest has been excited in the Horticultural world by the experiments of T. A. Knight, Esq. on the culture of the PINE APPLE. Our _object_ is to add our efforts to those of that eminent Horticulturist, in promoting the culture of that king of fruits.

The _means_ which we consider as most likely to attain our object, is the bringing together accounts of all the different modes of treating that Plant, which have hitherto been adopted in Europe; and the _sources_ from which we have drawn the means, are the different _publications_ which have appeared on the Pine Apple, and our own _observations_ on its management, by those Gardeners who are its most successful cultivators.

The British publications which treat exclusively, or principally, of the Pine Apple, are:

1767. _John Giles_, of Lewisham. A Method of raising Pines and Melons, 8vo.

1769. _Adam Taylor_, Gardener at Devizes, in Wiltshire. A Treatise on the Ananas and on Melons, 8vo.

1779. _William Speechly_, Gardener to the Duke of Portland, at Welbeck, in Nottinghamshire. A Treatise on the culture of the Pine Apple, and the management of the Hot-house, &c. 8vo.

1808. _William Griffin_, Gardener to J. C. Girardot, Esq. at Kelham, near Nottingham. A Treatise on the culture of the Pine Apple, 8vo.

1818. _Thomas Baldwin_, Gardener to the Marquis of Hertford, at Ragley, in Warwickshire. A Treatise on the culture of the Ananas, &c. 12mo.

The Authors who have treated on the Pine Apple, as a part of their general subject, include nearly all those who have written on Horticulture since the commencement of the 18th century; the principal are, Bradley, Miller, Justice, Abercrombie, M’Phail, and Nicol, in their respective works; and T. A. Knight, Esq., and Peter Marsland, Esq., in the Transactions of the London and Caledonian Horticultural Societies.

The Foreign publications on the Pine Apple are few, and of little value; because the Continental Gardeners have never been very successful in its culture. Professor Thouin and M. Bosc, are the principal French Authors who have noticed the subject, and this only in general works, such as Rosier’s Dictionary, &c. Kirchner is almost the only German writer who has written on this fruit, in his _Practische Anleitung für Gartenkunst_, published in 1796, and devoted more particularly to the culture of the Pine and the Grape. Some other foreign tracts on the subject in the Banksian Library are merely translations from La Cours chapter on the subject, and from English authors.

The most eminent cultivators of the Pine Apple in England, at the present time, are, Mr. Thomas Baldwin, Gardener to the Marquis of Hertford, at Ragley, in Warwickshire; Mr. William Griffin, Gardener to Samuel Smith, Esq., at Woodhall Park, Hertfordshire; William Townsend Aiton, Esq. Gardener to the King, at Kensington; Mr. James Andrews, Commercial Gardener, Lambeth; and Mr. Isaac Oldacre, Gardener to Lady Banks, at Springrove, Middlesex.

A number of other gardeners might be mentioned, as excelling in the culture of this fruit; but the above have been first-rate cultivators for several years.

On the Continent the Pine Apple is cultivated most extensively in Russia; it occurs but seldom in France or Germany; and only in a few gardens in Italy. It has happened to us to have visited the principal Continental Gardens, as well as the English ones alluded to above, and various others; and we mention this to justify the extension of our remarks, not only to domestic, but foreign practices; and to account for our not confining ourselves merely to what is contained in books, but discussing also the modes of culture actually practised in different gardens. We shall first notice the introduction of the Pine Apple into Europe, and next the different varieties in cultivation; we shall then glance at the Continental practices, and finally detail those of our own country.

_This Day is published_,

By Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown, London,

An ENCYCLOPÆDIA of GARDENING;

Comprising the Theory and Practice of Horticulture, Floriculture, Arboriculture, and Landscape Gardening; including all the latest Improvements, a general History of Gardening in all Countries; and a Statistical View of its present State, with Suggestions for its future Progress, in the British Isles.

By J. C. LOUDON, F.L.S. H.S. &c.,

Author of “A Treatise on forming and improving Country Residences.”

Complete, in One large Volume, 8vo. of 1500 Pages, closely printed, with Six Hundred Engravings on Wood, Price £2. 10s.

This Work claims the Attention of the Public:

1. By the comprehensiveness of its plan, by which, for the first time, every part of the subject of Gardening is brought together, and presented in one systematic whole.

2. By its being the only work which contains all the modern improvements in Gardening, foreign as well as domestic.

3. By the addition of a _Kalendarial Index_, by which the practical part of the work may be consulted monthly, as the operations are to be performed; and a copious _General Index_, by which the whole may be consulted alphabetically. Thus the work will serve as a _Gardener’s Kalendar_, and _Gardener’s Dictionary_: both, it is confidently hoped, far more complete than any hitherto presented to the public.

By means of a copious page, by condensed descriptive tables of fruits, culinary vegetables, and flowers, and by the local introduction of such illustrative engravings as greatly shorten the necessity of verbal description, this immense body of matter has been comprised in one thick volume.

CONTENTS.

CHAP. I. _Page_

Of the Pine Apple; its Culture in the West Indies.-- Introduction to Holland.--And to England 1

CHAP. II.

Of the varieties of the Pine Apple 6

CHAP. III.

Foreign modes of cultivating the Pine Apple 11

SECT. I. Culture of the Pine Apple in Holland 12

II. in Germany 20

III. in Russia 22

IV. in France 24

V. in Italy 26

VI. in other parts of Europe 29

CHAP. IV.

Of the different modes of cultivating the Pine Apple, which have been, or are practised in Britain by practical Gardeners 30

SECT. I. Mode of cultivating the Pine Apple, by Telende, in 1719 31

II. by Miller 34

III. by Justice 40

IV. by Giles 43

V. by Taylor 45

VI. by Speechly 49

VII. by M’Phail 67

VIII. by Nicol 88

IX. by Griffin 104

X. by Baldwin 110

XI. by Abercrombie 120

XII. by Andrews 125

XIII. by Gunter 129

XIV. by Oldacre 133

XV. by Aiton 138

CHAP. V.

Improvements recently attempted in the culture of the Pine Apple 146

SECT. I. Of the Improvements proposed by Mr. Knight 148

II. Of other Improvements proposed 170

ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE PINE APPLE.

CHAP. I.

OF THE PINE APPLE.

_Its Culture in the West and East Indies.--Introduction to Holland.--To England._

The Pine Apple is the Bromelia Ananas of Linneus; of the artificial class and order Hexandria Monogynia; and of the natural order of Jussieu, Bromeleæ. The generic name was originally Ananas, from Nana, its common name in the Brazils; and the Queen Pine is named the Ananas Ovata, in the earlier editions of Miller’s Dictionary; but Linneus changed it to Bromelia, in memory of Olaus Bromel, a Swedish naturalist, and included under it the Karatas, or Wild Pine, till then considered a distinct genus. The English name of Pine Apple appears to have taken its rise from the resemblance of the fruit to the cone of some species of the Pine tree.

There are twelve species of Bromelia, described by Persoon; the fruit of all which may be considered edible, and is occasionally made use of by the natives. Six of these species are naturalized in the West Indies; and the rest are found wild in Chili, Peru, and other parts of South America.

The Bromelia Ananas is the only species in general cultivation; it is cultivated abundantly in both the Indies, and in China. It is said to grow wild in Africa; but Linneus ascribes it to New Spain and Surinam; and Acosta (_Histoire Naturelle des Indes_,) says, it was first sent from the province of Santa Croce, in Brazil, into the West, and afterwards into the East Indies and China. Persoon considers it as a native of South America; and Baron Humboldt and the Prince Maximilian found it in the Caraccas, in the Brazils.

Whichever way it was introduced from South America to the West Indies, its culture in these islands, and particularly in Jamaica, has been carried on for an unknown length of time. It is vulgarly supposed in this country, that it grows wild there; but, from the best information which we have been able to collect, the true Ananas is only cultivated in gardens, or grounds under spade culture; and there much in the same way as cabbages are in this country, and produces its fruit in from fifteen to eighteen months after planting the crown. The common weight of the fruit is from half a pound to three pounds; and it abounds chiefly in the dry season. In the rainy season, which includes nearly half the year, ripe Pine Apples are more scarce in the gardens of Jamaica than in the hot-houses of England.

In the neighbourhood of Calcutta it is cultivated in the same manner as in Jamaica, and, when liberally supplied with water, by a system of surface-irrigation, the first is said to attain a large size, and to be in season most months of the year.

The first attempts to cultivate the Pine Apple in Europe seem to have been made about the end of the seventeenth century, by M. Le Cour (or _La Court_, as written by Collinson), a wealthy Flemish merchant, who had a fine garden at Drieoeck, near Leyden. Of this garden he published an account in 1732, and died in 1737.

It was visited by Miller and Justice, who speak of its proprietor as one of the greatest encouragers of gardening in his time; of having curious walls and hot-houses; and as being the first person who succeeded in cultivating the Pine Apple. It was from him, Miller observes, (_Dictionary_, Art. _Bromelia_,) that our gardens were first supplied, through Sir Matthew Decker, of Richmond, in the year 1719; though, as a botanic plant, it had been introduced so far back as 1690, by Mr. Bentick, afterwards Earl of Portsmouth.

“When I say,” observes Mr. Cowel of Hoxton, in his Curious and Profitable Gardener, Lon. 1730, p. 27. “that the first Pine Apples that were cultivated in England, were in Sir Matthew Decker’s gardens at Richmond, I mean the first that were cultivated with success, were in those gardens; for long before we had plants of them brought to us, but had not before that time conveniences for bringing them to fruit, or even of keeping the plants alive.”

“The Pine Apple,” he adds, in the same page, “is now (1730) found in almost every curious garden.”

The fruit of the Ananas was sent to Europe, and especially to Holland, as a preserve, for many years before the Ananas plant was introduced.

That it found its way even to England in this state, so early as the sixteenth century, is evident from what Lord Bacon says of it in his Essay on Colonies; and also from a picture in the possession of the Earl of Waldegrave, representing Charles II. in a garden, and Rose, the royal gardener, presenting his Majesty with a Pine Apple. This picture, Lord Walpole informs us, was bequeathed by Mr. London, who was Rose’s apprentice, to the Rev. Mr. Pennicott, of Thames Ditton, by whom it was presented to himself. It does not appear, however, that the Pine was cultivated either by Rose or London, otherwise it would certainly have been noticed in the publications, which, if not written by, at least passed under the name, and received the sanction of London and Wise; and also of Evelyn, Ray, Rea, and other gardening writers of these times. In short, it is evident from Ray’s letters, that the idea of heating green-houses by fire was quite new in 1684, and first adopted by Mr. Watts, gardener, to the apothecaries at Chelsea in that year; and Miller states, (_Dict._ Art. _Tan_,) that there were very few tan-beds used in England before the year 1719. The Pine Apple, therefore, could not be cultivated in the seventeenth century in England.

Of late years the Pine Apple has been sent to England in abundance, attached to the entire plant, and a cargo has arrived from Providence Island, in the Bermudas, in six weeks. This facility of cultivation, and their more general culture, has greatly lessened their price, and rendered them common. They are sold in fruit-stands in the London streets, in one or two places, during the summer months; and moderate-sized fruit may be had from half-a-crown to a crown each; or at two shillings a pound.

CHAP. II.

OF THE VARIETIES OF THE PINE APPLE.

Of the Pine Apple, as of most other fruits that have been long in cultivation, there are many varieties. The principal part of those cultivated in this country have been obtained from the West India islands; but some also have been raised in this country from seed.

Speechly states, that, in the year 1768, he raised seventy plants from seeds that were sent to the Duke of Portland from the West Indies, most of which varied distinctly either in the leaves or fruit, but the quality of the latter was very inferior.

* * * * *

The most esteemed varieties in present cultivation are:

1. _The Old Queen._ Fruit oval-shaped, and of a gold colour. Esteemed the hardiest kind, and fruited in fifteen or eighteen months. The fruit grows to a large size, often weighing from three to four pounds. It is much more certain of shewing fruit at a proper age and season than most of the other sorts, and has a just preference in most hot-houses.

2. _Ripley’s New Queen._ A sub-variety of the _Old Queen_, with a large elegant fruit; fruited also in an equally short period.

3. _Welbeck Seedling_; fruit small, generally broader at the head than at the base; of a pale yellow, or sulphur colour, with very flat pips; flesh white and tender, rich in flavour, with less acidity than is found in most other pines. _Hort. Trans._ iv. 213.

4. _Pyramidal_, or _Brown Sugar-loaf_. Cone-shaped, and dark coloured till it ripens; the leaves brownish, the flesh yellow.

5. _Prickly Striped Sugar-loaf._ Cone-shaped, the fruit of a golden colour, the leaves striped with black or purple lines.

6. _Smooth Striped Sugar-loaf_; similar to the above, but the leaves not prickly.

7. _Havannah._ Tankard-shaped; dark coloured till it ripens.

8. _Montserrat._ The leaves of a dark brown, inclining to purple in the inside; fruit middle-sized and tun-shaped, and the pips or protuberances of the fruit larger and flatter than in the other kinds.

9. _King Pine_, or _Shining Green_. The leaves of a grass-green, with few prickles, the pulp hard and rather stringy, but of good flavor when ripe.

10. _Green_, or _St. Vincent’s Pine_. A rare variety; when ripe the fruit is of an olive hue, middle-sized, and pyramidical.

11. _Black Antigua._ The fruit is shaped like the frustum of a pyramid: leaves of a brownish tinge, and drooping at the extremities, with strong prickles, thinly scattered. The pips of the fruit are large, often an inch over; and it attains a large size, weighing from three to four pounds. It is of a dark colour till it ripens; very juicy, and high flavoured.

12. _Black Jamaica._ The fruit is large, and the plant similar in character and habits to the above.

13. _Providence Pine._ There are two varieties, the white and green; the fruit is larger than that of any of the kinds cultivated in this country; the form inclining to pyramidical; the colour, at first, brownish grey, but, when mature, of a pale yellow. The flesh yellow and melting, abounding with quick lively juice. Speechly produced in the gardens at Welbeck, in 1794, a fruit that weighed five pounds and a quarter, or eighty-four ounces, and from a plant that was not a large one. Griffin had, in 1803, two plants placed under his care, which fruited in July 1804; the fruit of one plant weighing _seven pounds two ounces_, and the other _nine pounds three ounces_, avoirdupois. This sort, and the two preceding, require generally three years, and sometimes four or five, to produce their fruit.

14. _Blood-red_; fruit equal in bulk at both ends. Pips of moderate size; colour brick-red; flesh white and opaque; leaves of a changeable hue; the flavor of the fruit being inferior to that of most others; this is to be considered merely as a curious variety. _Hort. Trans._ iv. 214.

15. _Silver-striped Queen._ Leaves beautifully striped with white, yellow, and red; but the plant, though elegant, is a reluctant fruiter.

16. _Variegated-leaved Pines._ Besides the _Striped-leaved Queen_, there are several sorts with beautifully varied leaves and fruits; but in general they are tardy in fruiting, and more to be considered as ornamental than as useful varieties.

* * * * *

To these may be added, as sorts not generally known, or of inferior value:

The _Smooth Pine_. Miller. The _Smooth Long Narrow-leaved Pine_. Ibid. The _Grunda Pine_. Ibid. The _Bogwarp Pine_. Ibid. The _Surinam Pine_. Ibid. The _Antigua Queen_. Speechly. The _Green Providence_, or _Old Providence_, from one of the Bermuda islands of that name.

_New Sorts._ Pine plants are frequently imported from the West India islands, and in this case generally bear their names. In general, however, these plants are far inferior, both as to kinds and condition, to those grown, and to be procured from nurserymen in this country. They are generally infested with the bug, and very uncertain in their time of fruiting, as well as to its flavor. If these were to be enumerated, the list of pines known in this country would amount to upwards of forty sorts. Specimens of above thirty sorts are grown in the gardens of Mr. Gunter, at Earl’scourt.

The Pine Apple, as every gardener knows, is propagated in the same manner by all those who grow it; that is, by that singular production in which the fruit terminates, called a crown, and by suckers; these are planted in small pots, or in beds of rotten tan, earth, or dung, at first, and shifted in regular gradation into pots of different sizes, at the discretion of the cultivator.

CHAP. III.

FOREIGN MODES OF CULTIVATING THE PINE APPLE.

_Culture of the Pine Apple in Holland,--France,--Germany,--Italy, &c._

The horticulture of the continent is, in general, copied from that of Holland, as was our culture, and that of every other country two centuries ago. Excepting in Holland, therefore, the English gardener will find very little to learn in other countries; but it is worth while to know how little is to be known in one quarter, that we may be the more assiduous in our attention to such quarters as are likely to furnish us with information.

For this purpose, we shall take a short view of the culture of the Pine Apple in the principal parts of the Continent.

Whether Le Cour was the first who imported Pine plants from the West Indies, is less certain than that he was the first to attempt their culture with success. Professor Bradley, in his General Treatise of Husbandry and Gardening for July 1724, p. 206. gives a description of the Pine Apple, and the introduction of it into Holland by Mr. Le Cour. He says, that there were in the Amsterdam gardens about two hundred plants, chiefly from Surinam and Curaçao, but some from the Dutch factories in the East Indies, which were in good health; but the art of bringing them to fruit was not known till Mr. Le Cour took them in hand. Miller says, that after a great many trials, with little or no success, Mr. Le Cour did at length hit upon a proper degree of heat and management, so as to produce fruit equally good (though not so large), as that which is produced in the West Indies. About the year 1737, the year before his death, Mr. Le Cour published a quarto volume in Dutch, containing the result of his observations on gardens, trees, and flowers; with explanatory descriptions of his stoves.

From this work, and from the statements of Professor Bradley, (_Treatise on Husbandry and Gardening, for June 1724_, p. 161.) we learn that Le Cour’s mode of treating the Pine plant was very similar to that adopted at Sir Matthew Decker’s garden at Richmond, to be afterwards described; but we shall give this gentleman’s practice, as related by himself.

SECT. I.

_Culture of the Pine Apple by Mr. Le Cour in the beginning of the 18th century, at Drieoeck, near Leyden._

I distinguish, he says, three different species of Pine Apple; the first and best has green leaves, garnished with fine prickles, fruit of which I have had seven inches high, and thirteen inches in circumference; this sort, if it is kept cool before it shows fruit, and then advances slowly by somewhat more heat, grows larger and more pointed than that which has been kept warmer and in a growing state during winter. The leaves of the second sort are larger and broader, of a darker green mixed with red; it does not produce fruit of so large a size, but its knobs are broader and larger, yet flatter; the unripe fruit being of a reddish brown, and when ripe of a deep yellow, with brownish yellow spots on the knobs; this sort has not so pleasant a taste as the first, which, when unripe, is of a darker green, and when ripe, with lighter yellow knobs, on which account I cultivate chiefly the following sort.

This is called the Smooth Ananas, on account of its being without prickles, but the ends of the leaves grow longer, narrower, and more upright: the fruit is smaller. The Ananas cannot bear the cold of our winter, and must have in summer a more permanent warmth and less change in the winter than we commonly have in our climate; and must therefore not only be put during the winter into stoves, but even during the summer under glass frames, and the pots placed in a hot-bed of tan. However, it is with these plants, as it is with all others from a warmer climate; when they by degrees have been accustomed to our colder climate, they become more hardy, and can bear more cold and change of weather, and therefore produce better fruit than those which are sent to us from abroad and have been reared in a warmer country more congenial to their nature. It is therefore necessary that we should try to get plants that have already been accustomed to our country, by propagation from suckers for a number of years, for in that case they may be reared with very little trouble.